Natural products, great website!

[Lex411]

I just wanted to tell you all about a great website I just stumbled across. I was searching for a place to order unbleached all-cotton tampons online (I used to order them from Homegrocer with our orders but we don't order there much lately) and found:

www.mothernature.com

Wow, that have a lot of stuff, including my tampons. I've been reading and hearing a lot lately about the long term effects of tampons that contain rayon fibers, bleach and dioxin (none of which are required by the FDA to appear as ingredients for some odd reason). Even at my last gyno checkup she mentioned to me that she had switched to all cotton unbleached tampons and we talked for a bit about it. She said now they are linking the harmful ingredients in most popular ones to things like ovarian and uteran cancer and endometriosis. Scary thought and I said "better safe than sorry." I got these tampons by a company called Natracare that I believe was founded by a woman. But they're great, I've been using them for a while and they don't cost much more than the ones in the store. And I was happy to see that my first order was with free shipping.

But since it's entirely women on here exchanging ideas and advice I thought I should share. Great website with lots of cool products at decent prices and a safer alternative to the widely sold tampons. I was a Tampex devotee until I talked to my doc and found these. They're great and now I feel a little safer.

Take care everyone!

 

[fitmom]

Thanks!

I've often wondered about tampons and what's actually in them. I'll be sure to check out the web site you mentioned.

Alli

 

[Lex411]

cool stuff

You're welcome, I just love to tell everyone whe I find a place that has lots of cool stuff.

 

[jackie7]

Natural hair dye?

Mothernature.com has natural hair dye. Has anyone ever tried it? I need to cover the gray.

 

[kathryn]

natural hair dye

I haven't tried the natural hair dye, but I use henna (100% pure plant product). If you have brown, reddish or black hair, you can find a henna shade to fit (even if you have to mix). It takes a bit of experimenting to find the right shade sometimes (once I forgot what shade I used before, was sure I did a first layer in brown, with auburn on top, but ended up too dark, then too red. After the third layer, I was just right--now I know the combo! Nice thing about henna is, you can do multiple layers without doing any harm to your hair--I have hair almost down to my mid-back, and can get two treatments from a $5.95 pack). The bad thing about henna is it can be rather messy, and it smells like alfalfa when you put it on. Interesting thing, sometimes when you think the color isn't quite right, it changes a bit after a wash or two and ends up really nice).

 

[jackie7]

Thanks

My hair is very dark brown and I am trying to cover the gray. So, do I go with the darkest color and then add colors on top to lighten it?

 

[Lex411]

henna warning

Over the years I've worked at 3 different salons and learned a lot about hair color in general. While Henna is a natural product that won't damage hair like the chemical treatments, it is also extremely difficult to get out or correct because it tends to "grab" hair more than any chemical. Something about the level of salt that naturally occurs makes it very stubborn, so once you do it, if you don't like it for some reason, it's hard to change outside of going darker. Henna will always bring out the red tone in any hair, so make sure that's what you want too. I'm not a hairdresser, but I've had my hair every color in the world, I swear. My (unsolicited)advice is to go see a colorist, if even for a free consultation, tell them what you want and what your concerns are and see what they say. I've had so many disasters with home hair color not turning out at all the way I'd hoped and I've seen Henna disasters walk into salons where I was working. That stuff is more gentle on the hair but it's also harder to correct or remove.

If you happen to be in Chicago or thereabouts, I know a few incredible colorists that aren't snobby or initmidating and really know their stuff. Any decent one should welcome the chance to have you come in just to talk and look at your hair. Anyone that doesn't isn't a true pro. But be careful with henna. I'd hate for you to end up with something you don't like and can't get out. But when you get just the right shade and everything, it really is lovely. Happy coloring!

 

[kathryn]

henna

On the box, they say if you have more than 25% (I think) grey, then you should start with a darker color, then use one of the lighter tints on top. I'd recommend going with a dark brown (not black, unless your hair really IS black). If you don't have a lot of grey, then the white hairs may just be a bit lighter than the others, like a highlight, and you probably don't even need a second color on top.
Re the warnings about henna. This definitely was a problem years ago when only red henna colors were available (I remember getting a "Maureen Ohara" look when I first hennaed!), but now with several different shades available, I think it's less of a problem, especially if you start out with a shade that is less red than you think you might want. Also, you can correct by putting another color over it (if you tried that with other hair colors, you'd end up with pretty damaged hair in most cases). I probably never get the exact same shade twice, because I forget if I use the auburn, or the reddish brown, or how much I actually mix, etc.--I should write this down!!-- but I've never ended up with an unpleasant color. The one time I went too red recently, I just put on another layer of a browner color, and it got corrected (but that red was REALLY red!!

 

[Karen N]

I am addicted to their soap

I absolutely love Mothernature.com's bar soap, especially the baby one. It smells so nice, and unlike most soaps out there, doesn't give me a rash (I'm so pitiful that Lever 2000 left scars on me).